Cruelty and The Beast
by Memoirs2004
Summary: 6 years after the game, will be rated M in future chaps. This story is based on a Cradle of Filth Song. WORK STILL IN PROGRESS....
1. Prologue

**I've written a few fanfics and discontinued them because I felt I was lacking creativity, but this is my first serious one. I'm surprised with myself that it is in the lovey dovey section of the site. As you all know it is set in the FF8 world. I do not own any of the characters, places, items..blah blah blah..that have to do with FF8, everything else is mine.**

Six years had passed since the near-apocalyptic battle between the Sorceress Heroes and Ultimecia. The world was in a state of tranquility...for the time being. Balamb Garden remained mobile, but for the past 2 ½ years it remained stationary near the Shumi Village. No great improvements were made to the Garden following Time Compression, it remained almost the same, except for the new addition to the training center; monsters from all around the world could now be fought. From the tiniest Bite Bug, to the toughest Chimera, they were all there ready to test the students will to be part of the most elite mercenary force ever known. SeeD.

SeeD's first real goal was to eradicate the Sorceress that threatened to destroy the world. But from lack of them, they became skilled mercenaries in the arts of stalking, spying, murder, and most of all escape without a trace. Their leader Squall Leonhart took his job seriously, his wife, the sorceress Rinoa Heartilly stood by him. She had matured over the years, no longer the carefree little girl, she stood at the ready her pinwheel at her side at all times ready for anything. The other Sorceress Heroes parted ways soon after, Irvine and Selphie decided to go back to Trabia and live there, close to the garden, Zell disappeared, some say he teaches his martial arts to only a few select students deep in the region of Centra, and Quistis seeing as she would never get her instructor license back, fell in a deep state of depression and took to drinking. She passed away a year ago from alcohol poisoning in the middle of the street in Timber. Everyone had attended the funeral of the former instructor.

"We will never forget Quistis Trepe, she was a mentor, role model, and most of all a friend to all those around her" Those were the words that were said by the Commander at the burial. Since that time, the remaining five have lost touch and live their own lives accordingly. Life could not be better, it seems that the world is finally at peace, that is only how it seems in the surface, but dig deep enough and you will discover a past to dark and covered with the blood of innocents it would make the bravest of men beg for mercy. The centennial lunar eclipse will be occurring soon, and that is the day when fate takes a drastic turn for the worst.


	2. Chapter 1: First day of our lives

**Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 and all that blah blah blah..this is the last one to ever pop up on this fic**

It was a cool summer day by Shumi standards to say the least. As the temperature was actually was just below zero degrees (Celsius). The halls of the Garden were alive with the excited chatter of students who were about to leave for summer break. A time in which they could relax and not worry about classes, homework, and more importantly tests. Many of the students would leave for home; others would stay in the Garden. Such is the case of Karen; her parents passed on six years ago in Timber, during the revolution. She was only ten at the time and could not fend for herself, and to make matters worse her remaining family did not want to get stuck with the responsibility of looking after her so they sent her to Balamb Garden where she would make something of herself and stay out of their lives.

Karen was 17 in age, andabout 5'6", with long strawberry red hair past her shoulders, she had majestic mahogany eyes that reflected her sweet caring nature, her skin was a milky white and was as soft as the finest of silks. Her features were noticeable, especially in the standard Garden issue uniform. She possessed long toned legs thanks to all the years of sports, a refined waist. Her chest was a B cup, not small and not big at the same time, just right. She was at the prime of her youth, although she lived a hard childhood, her strong will helped her get through the toughest of times. Apart from her breathtaking beauty she wielded a wicked gun blade at her side. Not many females prefer this weapon as it takes many years to learn and discipline, not to mention physical strength. Her father was a gun blade master when he was younger so she developed a love for the weapon at a young age.

The gun blade was carried in a red leather sheath that was easily concealable in her red leather combat trench coat to match. The blade itself was about six feet in length and glowed a warm vermilion, the handle was a rare metal only created when certain energy items where mixed under high heat and pressure. It gave off a silvery glow in the sunlight and had patterns that resembled Cleric runes of safety. The chamber unlike other gun blade models carried a twelve shot chamber instead of the usual six shooter models. This way she wouldn't have to reload immediately in the heat of a battle, there also was a double trigger attached to it as well, so instead of one shot there would be two at the same time or one coming right after the other. A skill that is very difficult to learn. Engraved on the handle was a griffin, its eyes were two small rubies and it seemed to be breathing fire into the blade, giving it life. She called it "Diamonds Edge" as it was sharp enough to cut through diamonds. There was no other gun blade that compared to it...except the Lionheart that was wielded by the Commander of the garden, Squall Leonhart.One of her goals was to challenge Commander Leonhart in a one on one match, gunblade against gunblade...what she would do if she won would be up to fate, all she wanted was to fight against one of the finest warriors in the planet.In the meantime she had other things to worry about, like the history final she had later on.

Karen lounged by herself in the back corners of the Quad where few people go; she went here for the quiet and solitude, but most of all for the atmosphere of just being one with nature, that was one of the best things of Balamb Garden, they not only prided themselves to honor and discipline, but to making every room and hallway have some sort of plant life adorning it. To Karen that was the heart of Balamb Garden, the beauty of nature in a school environment.

She was busy reviewing her history notes when someone was blocking her light."Hey! What do you think your doing?" she asked, looking up to someone she knew but not well.

"What? Am I interrupting?" it was a male, about her age, aboutfour inches taller than her; he had short spiked black hair, tanned skin, and a strong Hispanic accent. A little something that drove many of the females of Garden wild. He had dark brown eyes, a warm smile and an inviting aura around him. His body was well built as he used as his style of fighting a combination of martial arts with knives, he was wearing his combat clothes which consisted of black baggy pants, short sleeve black shirt, combat boots, and his knife belt which consisted of two bowie knives on the side, one army issue combat field knife in the back and four throwing knives in the front. His name was Raze, he gave himself that name and it stuck, not even the teachers know his real name, as he never wanted to give it away. To him it was a reminder of the hell he had to live through while he was a young kid.

"Actually you are" Karen declared, her eyes focusing on the knife Raze was twirling around in his hand with expert skill.

"Well I'm sorry but there's something I need to ask you" Raze kneeled down coming into eye level, "no..I'm not proposing so get that thought out of your head."

"Well, what is it?" she blushed a bit and smiled gently.

"Listen uh...I know we don't hang out much and don't talk much either, what with us being in the same history class but..I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out with me tomorrow night. Everyone is leaving tomorrow so we can go out for dinner at Balamb...what do you think?" Raze took in a deep breath of air waiting for her response. He had fought many enemies before, but this was his toughest one yet. He took a deep breath and held it patiently waiting for her answer.

"Yea, I'd love to" Karen giggled and smiled once more.

"Really? Uh..I mean, great! So I'll...pick you at your dorm tomorrow at...9:30 pm?" Raze exhaled and tried to remain his composure, his heart had skipped a beat by her answer.

"Yea, that would be great, room 645, don't forget now" Karen winked and looked at Raze and saw something she hadn't seen in any of the other males in Garden or any she had dated for that matter; loneliness... and a want of acceptance by others. Maybe she was a sucker for pretty eyes but something inside told her that he was someone she could have a serious relationship with.

Raze stood up and smiled down at her, "okay, so I'll see you tomorrow then?" she nodded and he walked away feeling pretty damn good of himself, why? Because he had asked out one of the most beautiful intelligent girls he had ever met, and he'd do whatever it took to keep her if it came to that.

Karen returned to studying her notes and as she did she felt something inside her again. She ignored it and smiled to herself blushing madly, and nothing could ruin her day. Not even the history final she had to write later that day.

**A/N:Okay, so how am I doing so far? I hope everything is fine and there are not too many grammatical errors and whatnot, and uh...seeing as how this is my truly first fic, I would greatly appreciate it if there were some of you willing to look over my work and making corrections to it before posting. And yes, you will get credit for it by my mentioning you at the beginning of every chapter and at the end of the fic itself. So please R&R, and let me know, give me feedback, flames, whatever..Just anything to keep me going at this moment.**


	3. Chapter 2: Drinking, Money, and Love

**A/N: Thanks to Larus for being my first reviewer, thanks a lot, got me thinking a lot about what you said and so I'm goin to try and make it better as I go along. Now, heres the chapter number 2! No killing yet, more lovey dovey action plus the intro to two new characters, yay!**

"9: 25, perfect timing" Raze checked the clock hanging on the wall making sure that he had not been late for this date. He had gone all out for this, dinner, dancing, and he had some money leftover thanks to a winning hand in poker...that and also because his dorm buddies didn't know how to play. So he beat a straight flush with a two of a kind. He normally didn't wear anything formal but seeing as how this was a special night he dressed up in his most classy clothing which were his combat pants with a white shirt and his leather jacket, military shined boots and a somewhat styled hair. A few girls walked past him and gave him accepting looks and some actually tried to get him to go out with them instead but refused, as he knew that Karen was the one.

"Sorry ladies I wish I could go out with you tonight but I'm actually busy with someone very special" Raze tried to persuade his way out of it as best he could, and just as the girls were about to use their 'feminine ways' Karen opened her dorm room and saw what was going on.

"What is going on here?"

"Uh...nothing you see..I was here waiting for you and they came and wanted me to go out and I said 'no' but they didn't let me say no and so they were trying to get me to go out but I didn't want to go cause I'm going out with you and so on and then you came out and now they're running away...phew!" Raze gasped for air and Karen just laughed at his way of trying to explain things in a hurry.

"No no..Its okay, my, you look good tonight" Karen quickly looked him up and down; "you really know how to make yourself presentable"

It was Raze's turn to blush now and gave her a quick smile and then stopped to look at her. Karens hair was done up in a high ponytail, her eyes were accented by thin eyeliner, mascara, and a bit of baby blue eye shadow, she wore a sequin black gown that was tight on her body and showed her best features and wore classy high heels with a silver buckle on top.

"You look stunning...your beautiful" Razes heart skipped a beat and for a while there forgot to breathe as he took in all her beauty all at once, "you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen."

"Well thank you" Karen replied smiling brightly and took her hand in his and walked with him to wherever he had planned for this evening which so far was turning out as one of her best nights ever.

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! YEAAAAAHHH! WHOOOH!" The spectators in the bar cheered wildly as they saw a 17-year old girl take down two pitchers of beer, two boilermakers, and four shots ofgold tequila and was still standing by the end. She put down the last pitcher and passed it around where everyone put the bet money inside.

"That's right boys, pay up!" she yelled as loud as she could so everyone could hear her. She was a petite girl, with shoulder length auburn hair, light brown eyes, and a physique of that of a goddess...she had the ability to make men do whatever she wanted with a flick of her hair and she loved to have that kind of power. She was a regular at the Outlaws Night Club in Balamb, everyone knew her by name, which was Talia, but everyone called her Telly as a nickname earned in the bar. She was more of a "inside girl", she just loved to be where the action was, that's probably why she was one of the most hard working martial artist in Garden.

Her style of fighting was a mixture of Brazilian Jujitsu with some ancient Shaolin Kung Fu, one of her overdrive moves was the one she called "Flaming Phoenix" which could literally turn the enemy she focused on into ashes with a single punch to a certain area of the body. Being a fist fighter once would expect her to wear loose fitting clothing but instead for more of a challenge her attires usually consisted of spaghetti strap tank tops, with tight fitting jeans and sneakers.

"Okay guys! That's it for me tonight, thanks for all of your hard earned money, but this girl has curfew!" Her voice was sweet and innocent but when she wanted to get things done she sounded more like a drill sergeant.

"Oh come on! One more!" there were cheers and whistling for her to continue but she refused and left the bar leaving her supporters disappointment until tomorrow night. As she left the bar, she counted her money and saw that she made a pretty good sum of about $700.

"Not bad, now I can pay next semesters fee..." Telly was a student at the Garden since she was eight, she always was a troublemaker, her parents got fed up and sent her to Balamb. The only family she knew after her move to Gardenwas that of her friends and that was all she needed. This was more of a part time job to get her money for school...but once she became a SeeD which was coming very very soon, she would be able to support herself a little better, and be able to pay back everyone from whom she had borrowed money from.

"So? How much did you make tonight?" It was Johnny, one of Telly's closest friends since she was a little girl, "Looks like you made more this time" Johnny was more of the dark type, he stood at least 5'6"and his wardrobe usually consisted nothing but black; his black trench coat, black pants, boots, shirt and sunglasses which he wore even at night. He had three piercings on his left earlobe and had a tattoo of a devilswhore on his back, and his weapon of choice was the katana, his katana was forged from the scales of a blue dragon and had a dragon engraved on the blade, it was over 4 feet long and the hilt was made of black ivory, which was made by the process of acquiring real ivory then going through the process of turning it black by slow burning, then when it was done, it was polished to a reflective finish and engraved on it was an upside down pentagram which supposedly protected him from harm...a strange one indeed.

"Shut up Johnny, if it weren't for me, you'd be starving" Telly laughed and shoved Johnny into a wall, "your lucky I'm letting you crash in my dorm for this summer, otherwise you'd be pretty screwed."

"Yea yea yea...I know" Johnny dusted himself off and followed Telly back to Garden.

The night was perfect for being outside, there was no wind, the moon was out and stars literally littered the sky. Raze and Karen had just finished coming out of the club from dancing and were heading down to the docks when they saw Johnny and Telly walk up the street, they didn't say anything to one another as they only met briefly once during the first day of orientation and that was that...even though they were in the same classes except for Basic Magic and Spells which no one took seeing as how they didn't need to use spells and the only time they used magic was for enhancing their stats.

Raze and Karen made their way near the end of the dock and stood there looking out at the moon and stars, it was quiet among them for a bit and Raze decided to break the silence.

"I really enjoy being with you, you know that?" Raze whispered in Karen's ear softly "your not like other girls."

"How am I not like other girls?" Karen asked biting her bottom lip.

"Well...your sincere, smart, funny, determined" Raze thought hard trying to find the correct words but found it more difficult then what others had told him, "your just you, and you don't let anyone else boss you around." His heart was beating fast, his palms were beginning to sweat from the nervousness...what if he had said something wrong? Was he moving too fast? Why didn't she say anything? It was not looking good for Raze and he was scared. Scared that he might lose this girl who made his world go round.

"So..basically you like me for being me, and that I have my own ideals and my own set of rules and I don't let anyone boss me around?" Raze nodded slowly, his heart beating hard against his chest and was almost knocked off the dock when Karen kissed him without any notice. Raze put his arms around her and kissed her back and they shared their first kiss, under the light of stars. Karen broke the kiss between them and looked out to sea with tears welling up in her eyes.

"What's wrong Karen?" Raze asked, worried he definitely did something wrong.

"Nothing...I'm just, happy, here with you" Karen let tears fall from her eyes, "you're not like other people too, you know?" Raze came close to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and looked to sea wit her just standing there, alone.

"I know I'm not like other people...but, in some ways I am, but...I can assure you that I will never hurt you, and I'll always be there with you." Raze whispered in her ear and kissed her neck, then the silence came upon them and they welcomed it with both their being.

**AN: This is my first attempt to make some kind of romance goin on, and if it sucks...well just let me know how I can make it better, and once again thanks to Larus for being the first reviewer and for so far supporting me in keeping this fic goin. Next chapter up soon. Hopefully. More R&R please**


	4. Chapter 3: History of the Beast

**AN: Alrighty then...heres the third installment in this fic, thanks go to Larus and the mystic Miss Kawaii for reviewing my work and keeping me in high spirits to keep goin, another thing is that this chapter will be mostly based on "Countess Elizabeth Bathory" also known as the Blood Countess. yes she actually lived...I suggest you read up on her. Quite good reading.**

_3000 Years Ago..._

"Kill them both...their blood will be used for my beauty" Lady Ishra commanded her servants as they took the two young girls to the dungeons.

Lady Ishra ruled the lands that in the present are now called Centra. Before the catastrophe that is.

Her stronghold is now the Centra Ruins. Filled with secrets no one was meant to be found. The history of Lady Ishra is a dark one...

This story begins 21 years ago when she was born...Her parents Lord Sarahim Aria and her mother Countess Lucia Aria gave birth to one single daughter.. Princess Ishra Aria. In those times the first born either male or female was the heir to the throne. Early in her childhood her parents saw that she was unlike other children ever since birth. She possessed dark eyes, smooth ivory like skin, full pouting lips, and black raven hair, and she never showed any emotion unless for attention from her parents. As she grew up, her mentality became this of vanity. That she was the prettiest, the smartest, funniest, and the most adored above everyone, even Hyne himself.

By the time she turned 16, her self absorption became a lifestyle, always trying to make herself look more and more beautiful, which she already was as she gained her beauty from her mother when she was young, but it still wasn't enough for her..she wanted more, she wanted perfection. That's when she met Halisha, the "witch" of the town north from where her family's castle was. Halisha made a deal with Ishra, beauty for power.

So Ishra made Halisha her right-handed woman when her parents passed away soon after her twenty-first birthday.Thats when the disappearances began to occur; every so often, one or two young girls went missing through the night from the nearby villages, never to be seen again. Soon after it began to occur more frequently. The townspeople would rush to the castle and ask her for help, but all she would do was send them away with nothing but worries of where their daughters might be.

"The townspeople become more and more alert your highness" Halisha counseled Ishra, "if you keep taking girls at this rate they will soon find out what you are up to."

"Let them, they cant do anything, I have a whole army at my dispossal and I will get rid of them for good if I have to" the Countess didnt care what happened just as long as she was eternally beautiful.

Months turned into years and Ishra started to show signs of aging...now was the time to put the captured females to good use. Halisha had told her that if she were to remain young she'd have to bathe in the blood of thefemales they had kidnapped and kept in locked away in the dungeons...The time had come and Ishra could finally use her sadistic toys. One of many which was the Iron Maiden (self explanatory).

Ishra's blashphemous deedsof killing young peasant girls kept her pleaseduntil one night the screams of the torturedgirls were heard outside the castle walls and the people of the town stormed it taking her completely by surprise and taking her captive along with Halisha, which was burned at the stake for witchcraft and demonic rituals. Ishra was kept in confinement in a tower where she stayed there until her death 6 years later. Before Ishra died, she made a pact with the devil...

"I will give you my soul if you give me life once again"

"how about this..you give me your soul, and I will make you feared"

"done...but..I want to be feared in another time...far away from here"

"Then 3000 years from now, on the annyversary of your death, the Beast shall arise and create havoc once again" The Devil smiled a wicked laugh and waited for her response.

"an eternity of cruelty...so the beast my arise...I accept"

Thats when the first Lunar Cry event happened destroying all the people in the Centra region, leaving nothing but smouldering rocks and death. Now she awaits for her time to come back...when she once again will be feared and will reign with an iron fist across the land.

**A:NSorry if its badly written or whatever but if you want to know more details then I really really really suggest you read up on Lady Bathory. Her history is dark and bloodwritten. I for one am in love with vampires so that pretty much gave away the rest of the story but thats okay for now. Another thing is I'd like to thank the best Dark Metal band ever 'Cradle of Filth' for inspiring me in making this fic with their lyrics and my own personal happening in life...so keep the reviews coming and I will keep this true to life (with somewhat fiction) story goin.**


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